


the third visitor

by ghostscribe



Series: 9,000 meters above sea level [7]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Issues, Panic Attacks, i guess?? dude idk its Fire having a bad time and then having slightly less of a bad time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-19 09:58:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15507636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostscribe/pseuds/ghostscribe
Summary: It’s not quite like looking into a mirror. It’s just different enough to be even more uncanny, though.





	1. freezing over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I am you._

He feels particularly cold today. 

Red sometimes feels icy even in his mountain hideaway, even where he has a fire going fairly often, where he has Charizard out and often warming the cave enough to keep them from freezing in here. On some days, it's just bad weather. Sometimes it's just because of this season. Sometimes it's even because Red has been outside for so long, too long, and when he realizes how cold it is, he throws himself into his blankets and Snorlax's embrace so that he doesn't catch hypothermia (which did happen once, a mild case, but he luckily managed to heal before Green came back to visit). 

Sometimes, though, he thinks it's actually because of his anxiety. 

Red has been dealing with anxiety for quite some time, yes. This is at least part of why he's been selectively mute for most of his life. The overwhelming terror that periodically takes his mind and wrings it dry isn't really that unusual or unfamiliar, unfortunate as it may be. Every so often, though, a wave of fear hits him out of seemingly nowhere, with seemingly no proper trigger, no rhyme or reason, and he's left wondering why he got scared in the first place. Yes, anxiety sometimes comes out of the blue, but his tends to have some rhyme or reason, even if it's a really obscure cause. A poorly timed shout or a whisper in the wrong direction can easily devastate him, and sometimes he doesn't even know what the problem is until well after the fact.

That's why Red finds this particular moment of anxiety odd; there's no cause.

Red has been in his cave for most of the day; the snow outside is excruciatingly cold, and even Red has his limits up here. Admittedly, those limits are more dictated by the health of his Pokémon than his own well-being, but since they tend to be just as vulnerable to the cold as he is, it works out in his favor anyway. For now, he's sitting in his cave with Charizard for warmth and Espeon for company - comfort, really.

_"Are you feeling any better?"_ Espeon asks softly. Red nods a bit, honestly. 

"Dunno what happened there."

_"Maybe it was just an off-day."_

Red glances toward the exit to the cave. "Maybe."

_"...you're not going out there if you're already cold, are you?"_

Red is already on his feet. "Not for long."

_"Red..."_

"I'll be quick, promise."

_"You'd better be. If you want to spend any more than five minutes out there, bring your coat."_

"I promise I'll be back in five minutes." If there's one thing Red has a knack for, its timing. 

Red darts off and peers out into the snow outside, focusing on the gales of white, straining his eyes to catch even the slightest bit of motion. Maybe that's why he's nervous...? Sometimes he just gets the feeling that there's someone on the mountain with him, and even with an overactive mind, he's rarely too far off when he senses someone nearby. Sometimes it's just a Pokémon, sure, but usually he has a good read on when there's a challenger coming for him. 

Something moves once, then again, then walks through and around the snow...

That's a person. Perhaps it is another challenger. He darts back into the cave. 

_"Are you alright, Red?"_ Espeon asks. 

_"Char?"_ Charizard has the same question.

"Someone wants to battle." There's really no other reason anyone would come to the summit like this, Red has learned. "Get ready."

With that, Red recalls both his Pokémon, clips his pokéballs to his belt, and heads out into the blizzard. The snow has typically only been advantageous to Red, actually, and he's found people often only look for him when the weather is bad. Maybe that's just because the weather is _always_ bad, though.

Should he bother with the coat this time? Nah, this should be quick enough.

Red spots the challenger and catches the other trainer's eye. He holds out one pokéball, Pikachu's, and the other trainer reciprocates the motion, and the battle is on.

Oddly, Pikachu is up against another Pikachu. Even more odd is the move this trainer chooses.

"Iron Tail!"

Red gives a trilling sort of whistle to Pikachu, _Iron Tail,_ and the mice collide in exactly the same moment in almost exactly the same way, mirroring one another.

This is... wrong, maybe? Is something wrong?

"Come back! Venusaur, you're up! Sludge Bomb!"

Something is definitely wrong, as far as the other trainer cares. He looks nervous. 

Red sends out Charizard against the grass starter. He's trying to focus, but the whistle for _Blast Burn_ seems a bit difficult to do right now, coming out as a more wavering pattern than usual. Charizard lands and takes the hits, but luckily avoids getting fully poisoned. The other trainer switches again.

His jacket looks a lot like Red's jacket, actually. The sleeves are black, though.

"Come back!" Again, he switches, and Red pulls Charizard back into his own pokéball, and in trying to guess what the next Pokémon might be - maybe a ground type? - Red sends out Blastoise.

"Blastoise, Hydro Canon!"

Oh.

What?

Red whistles the command for Surf, and both the wide wave and precision blast of water collide. The other trainer calls Blastoise back without a word this time, and sends out a - 

Charizard.

Why does he have the same team as Red? 

Red whistles again for Surf, and the opposing Charizard is immediately knocked unconscious. The challenger is looking frantically at his Pokémon's stats, so intently and so nervously that he takes a full second to process his own Charizard has fainted, and he calls the dragon back without a word.

"Lapras!"

Red doesn't battle with Lapras, but he does own one. How in the...

Red sends Snorlax out against the sea dragon, and whistles for _Body Slam,_ a loud, short noise.

"Blizzard!" As if they need more snow out here.

Again, the trainer looks down, and now Red can recognize the look in his eyes; _panic._

The competitor stops battling altogether, and Red carefully tries to approach him, feeling his own unease slowly building. He looks... He looks too much like Red. It's not quite like looking into a mirror. It's just different enough to be even more uncanny, though. The hat has a white arch on it rather than a whole spot of white, he has wristlets instead of gloves, his shoes are darker, his hair is lighter, ashy, but he still looks so _similar._ His own team seems to mirror Red's in such a way that it _shouldn't,_ and the whole thing is just so... wrong. It's all so wrong, because his team is too close, he looks too similar, even the shape of his face looks a little too much but not quite enough like a mirror image. Who is this?

Red catches a glimpse of the trainer's eyes from under the brim of his hat. They're almost orange, almost like a wildfire, and that's the only stark difference between them.

The trainer looks up at him, looks at Red's hat, then suddenly takes off his own and looks at it, as if he too is realizing something is very, very wrong. Red is hoping, praying that he's about to wake up from some weird nightmare, but his awakening never comes.

The trainer looks back up at Red. At last, he speaks, says a phrase that Red wasn't expecting to hear from someone who came to challenge him.

"Who are you?"

_(I'm Red,)_ he signs.

"I-I don't... know what you're saying."

The trainer recalls his Pokémon, and Red recalls Snorlax, not without noting the Pokémon's unease, and pulls out a small pencil and notepad from his pocket. He rarely actually communicates with any challengers, but this one is... odd. He's way too odd and it's making Red feel sick.

_< my name is Red>_

He writes this down and shows it to the other trainer, hoping for some clarity, some comfort, some closure to the bizarre nature of this encounter.

"I'm Red."

That's so much worse. Red just stares at this trainer for a long moment, because what is he supposed to say? Does he think - no, they must...

_< do we have the same name?>_

That must be it, right? Red isn't making a mountain out of a molehill, is he?

"No."

No?

"I'm Red."

He feels sick.

_< i don't understand...>_

The other trainer - perhaps his name is Red, perhaps not - mumbles something way too quietly for Red to hear, then approaches Red with one tiny step, and for some reason this sets off Red's panic response, and he practically jumps away from the other trainer. Now would be a great time to send out Espeon, have her speak for him, have her try to clear things up -

"I am you."

_No no no -_

This boy just starts repeating the phrase over and over, mumbling under his breath. His wrists are suddenly in the other trainer's grasp, a very hard grip that makes his bones ache, the pressure and cold both working against him. Red tries to pull away from him, to no avail, as the other merely steps with every step back Red manages to take.

"I am you."

_No._

"I am you."

_No._

"I am you."

_No!_

Those bright orange eyes are staring through Red, into his soul, in a way that slowly, surely marks something Red has seen in his own eyes only once. There's some kind of mania in this trainer, yes, that much is apparent, but that's not the familiar part. Red has seen his reflection only once when he went into a blind panic, locking himself in his bedroom against the news cars parked outside his house, and when he closed the curtains and turned around, he saw his reflection, and there was this look in his eyes, frantic and terrified, feral and desperate.

_You look like a cornered Pokémon,_ Green commented off-handedly once, when Red asked about what happens when he has these panic attacks that he can't properly recall. Only on that occasion has Red seen himself, and Green's description of that moment isn't far off.

It seems to be, in fact, just as applicable here.

"I am you!"

The trainer's hands start to slink up Red's arms, and while he can try to empathize, while it seems like he's going through something uncontrollable, Red can't deny that he's a bit terrified right now.

"I'm Red, I'm you, I'm the Champion, I'm Red, I'm you, I'm Red, I'm..." He carries on like that, and try as he might, Red (himself, the real Champion Red) can't manage to pull away from... from "Red."

"Let go." Maybe hearing him speak will snap him out of this. Maybe that'll let this boy know he's not him. 

"I am you."

"L-Let go," said a bit more loudly, a terror so overwhelming that it overrides his voice's refusal to work. This happens so rarely, yet when it does _his hands are on my throat -_

"I am you!"

_"Let go!"_

Espeon is out of her pokéball suddenly, having sensed something wrong. It's wildly uncharacteristic of her, but this is an unusual, dire circumstance, and so Red doesn't initially protest her attacking the trainer with a blast of psychic energy. 

He stumbles back and falls into the snow. He's looking at Red as if he just woke up out of a coma. 

_"What do you think you're doing?!"_ Espeon shouts, waves of psychic energy building up so heavily around her that they're blowing some of the snow away. "Red" looks frantic, looks through his pokéballs, muttering something that becomes just barely loud enough for Red to hear. 

"...where the hell is Espeon?"

_"What are you trying to do?!"_

"Red" looks at Red. 

"Did you take her?"

He stands up, slowly starts to approach Red _oh god no -_

"Stop!"

It's all Red can manage to do, scream, just scream hope that he can break through to the trainer across from him, hope that maybe he can wake up. Red feels his heart sink when the challenger's face drops, suddenly losing the building mania to something like depression. 

"...I'm not you." The other trainer sinks to his knees in the snow. "Then who... am..."

_I don't remember._ Red thinks those are the words on the trainer's lips.

_"Red, come on."_ Espeon starts to head back toward the cave, but... _"Red!"_

Reluctantly, he follows. He looks back one more time at the trainer, who is still paralyzed in his place. Should he leave him out here in the snow, though?

Espeon urges him on with a tug of psychic energy, and with that, he's back in the cave. The sound of water gently flowing from a natural spring into the lake and the relative heat of the space is welcomed, but Red's mind is still reeling. Whoever this trainer is, he thinks he's Red. How could someone think that? How could anyone _not_ know who they are? Is he just trying to make Red panic? Is he trying to act like he is Red for some other reason? Maybe he wants to beat him so badly that he's trying to convince himself he already is the champion. Maybe he's... maybe it's... what could this possibly be about? He's never seen anything like this before. How could... Red doesn't even know what to ask, let alone where the answers may lie. Whoever this is doesn't seem to be stable right now, but - 

_"Red."_

It's now that Red realizes his head is spinning from more than his own thoughts. Espeon always asks before she reads his mind, but apparently that doesn't apply today. 

"You didn't even warn me."

_"I know, but I'm worried about you."_

Red glances back out into the main cavern. "I'm more worried about him."

_"Why should you be? He's harassing, hurting, and scaring you."_

"It's not safe out there."

_"He's not stable enough to bring back here. What makes you think he'll be steady if you bring him inside?"_

"He was fine until..." Until when? Until he tried to introduce himself, he was fine, passing. Then Red was introduced to "Red," and that's when it went downhill. "Red" only snapped when he realized he was talking to Red, but... but what does that mean? What is he supposed to do?

_"You're not supposed to do anything, Red."_

Red shakes the dizziness off and actually glares at her, an exchange they've never had in their time together. "Yes I am."

_"This person isn't your responsibility, do you understand me?"_

"Sure." Pause. "I'm going to do something, though."

_"You're going to stay right here, and that's all."_

"He's gonna freeze out there!"

_"He's going to have to figure out what to do on his own."_ With that, Espeon turns away. _"Your challengers always find a way home, Red."_

"...how do you know that?"

Silence. 

"Espeon, people die on this mountain every year. We don't know that I never met any of them."

_"...this isn't your responsibility, Red. Just take care of yourself, and don't try to save someone who wants to manipulate you."_

"Manip - you think he was doing this on purpose?"

_"Why wouldn't he?"_

"Why would he?!"

_"To scare you! To overthrow you! To try and say he defeated the World Champion even through psychological manipulation! He was trying to hurt you, Red! What if he wants to get rid of you? What if he's a member of Team Rocket?!"_ Espeon's eyes glow with energy, building up out of fear in a way he hasn't ever seen before. _"Don't you think he_ tried _to hurt you?!"_

Did he really? He didn't seem right when his hands were on Red's throat, and his grip wasn't even that tight... It seemed almost like he was slipping out of himself, slipping away from the world, and it was only when he realized what he was doing that the strange look in his orange eyes snapped away, stolen with the wind, gone in a moment that Red can almost still feel in his own memory. In his own building terror about Team Rocket coming to take him away, back when he lived in Pallet Town, he could feel Green's voice reverberate through him, and it was always those moments that Red would feel reality come back to him like a rubber band, suddenly after being stretched far beyond his sanity. That same look was in "Red's" eyes in the moment that Espeon shot him back, a moment of awakening, mixed with fear. If he were trying to hurt Red, if he had some malicious intent, that wouldn't have been his reaction. 

Yes, he's come to believe "Red" has no idea what he's been doing.

"...I don't think he meant it."

Espeon's energy fades away, weak and broken. _"You're insane."_

"I don't think - " He's quickly cut off, though. 

_"No, you don't think! That's the problem, Red!"_

Red's breath stops in his throat.

_"You know,"_ she starts, trembling, " _I worry a lot about you, Red. You do things that are so self-destructive sometimes just because you get careless. You walk around in the snow in the worst possible conditions without even a coat even though you know you could get frostbite in under five minutes. You go more than a day without eating or drinking anything if one of us isn't there to remind you to eat. I've seen you fall asleep in a blizzard, for goodness' sake! You may be a wonderful trainer, Red, and you may be a Champion, but you can barely keep yourself safe sometimes!"_

Silence. 

_"...that's why I can't let you go back out there, okay? I can't lose you."_

Red waits there for a moment, just a moment, but then there's a scream from outside and he sprints off without even half a thought. 

_"Red!"_

By the time he reaches the spot in the snow where the trainer was standing, he's on the ground, unconscious and ice cold. 

Oh god. 

_Oh god he's dead -_

_"He's not dead,"_ Espeon quickly retorts, _"but..."_

Red shoots one more glare at her, hoping to never have to do this again. "We're not leaving him here."

Her tail sinks down. _"Leave me out of my pokéball. Just in case."_

Red does his best to scoop the trainer up and carries him to safety. He doesn't feel the dizziness in his head anymore, so he doesn't hesitate to lie. _"That's fine."_

_"...I don't like arguing with you, Red."_

"Neither do I."

_"Just... please be safe, okay?"_

"I will be." He remains quiet until he lays the trainer down in his makeshift bed, wrapping every blanket over. "...Espeon?"

_"Yes?"_

He brushes a bit of ice off the trainer's hair. "You know what really makes me happy?"

_"What?"_

"Helping people." Pause. "Because Green always makes me happy when he helps me. I wanna do that, too."

Espeon's footsteps tap away, then back after half a minute of rustling. _"I see."_

He takes the towel from her mouth and begins dabbing the ice off his inadvertent visitor. "I just wanna make sure he's okay. I want him to know it's alright."

_"Even after what he did?"_

"I wouldn't want Green to stay mad at me."

_"...I see."_

She's not convinced, but if there's one thing Red will never do, it's withhold his forgiveness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone welcome to my _Fire and Red are two different people_ headcanon featuring mutual anxiety and Fire's dissociation as a coping mechanism for his own self hate and identity issues that doesn't actually benefit him at all. also featuring Red being very sympathetic/forgiving, a headcanon that i've always had for him  
>  side note, this happens after Red has already met Ethan (that'll be titled _the second visitor_ ) but i've been holding off on writing that one for some reason. whenever i get that written i'll pop it into this series and put everything in the proper order  
> i have no idea anymore, i've been meaning to write this and i've done 3 different drafts of it so uh, yeah, here it is.


	2. burning up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I'm only me._

Nine months. 

It's been nine months since he defeated the Indigo League, nine months spent training to battle Red, but somewhere along the line he lost himself in his idol. He always thought Red's team was amazing: all three Kanto starters, Snorlax, Espeon, and of course, Pikachu. His Championship team was formally listed as having an Eevee, yes, but it was registered again about three years later with a slightly altered move set and an Espeon, his Eevee having evolved at some point. It was a trainer from Johto who described the change in his team, actually, and after Green battled him again, the change was sealed. It's one thing to look at a group of Pokémon and try to determine how to win. It's another thing altogether when the top trainers from around the world try to challenge said team and all lose miserably. It was that power, that talent, that tenacity that solidified his admiration for Red, and his own desired Pokémon team was already set up before he even got his starter. 

Yes, Fire resolved to succeed Red, in some way, to become everything he admired most, because he hated everything about his own being. 

It was fine, at first. The casual admiration slowly delved into idol worship over time, obsession, and while this was uncanny for his family to see, to watch this change slowly take place, the assumption was that, ultimately, it was fine. Odd, yes, unusual for Fire to become so attached to someone he didn't even know (he didn't even get attaches to people he did know), but it was... fine. 

For awhile. 

The change happened when he began referring to himself as Red, and for the past three months, Fire has no idea how it started or where it went wrong. Truly, for the life of him, he can't recall the exact moment where he decided he was not a fan of Red, not a successor to Red, but _Red himself._ He's aware now, now that he's a little more sober, now that he's met the champion and decided that no, that's not him, that's another human, _he_ is Fire and _that_ is Red. Hero worship can be a dangerous thing, but it had never been a threat to him until now, and he couldn't have really anticipated it. He never considered it when he was a kid, because he _was_ just a kid, and for the most part, no one really paid it any mind. Leaf had always found his idolization of Red a little odd, but dangerous, unhealthy, she never considered it that. She's his sister, and she considers it her job to protect him, but she didn't anticipate needing to protect him from something none of them saw creeping up on him.

It wasn't until those fatal words that the climax came, that he sealed his fate, for better or worse. 

_I am you._

He doesn't remember the encounter _clearly,_ but he does remember. When asked for his name, Fire had said his name was Red. The trainer he met on this mountain looked curiously at him, inquired as to whether they shared a name, or if perhaps it was... it seemed he didn't know what else to think. 

_I am you._

And the trainer shook his head, shaking little bits of snow off his red hat, little tatters of frost falling off his dark black hair. 

_I am you._

Fire, however, was Red, and he was insistent on that fact, despite any protest. 

_I am you._

Fire saw the differences. Black hair instead of brown, dark eyes instead of almost orange ones, a hat with more white on it than his own, gloves in lieu of wristlets, no voice at all where Fire's voice is so present, comes so naturally. When he was Red, he was not mute, he was not afraid, and yet he did not have an Espeon and his Venusaur wasn't supposed to know Sludge Bomb, he was missing a badge he was supposed to have pinned to his hat even though he didn't recognize it at all, something, everything was falling apart, Red knew who he was and who he was supposed to be - 

_I am you._

But in that moment, "Red" suddenly realized he didn't remember anything about being Red. 

_Am I you?_

No. He was not Red. He had always been Fire, despise that fact as he may, and he forgot that at some point. The realization hit him so hard and so fast that he can't recall much after Espeon knocked him to the ground, nor can he recall when he passed out. He can't even recall waking up. He's been running through these thoughts since he did, though, waiting for something, maybe death, or maybe sleep. 

Red is that something, though, as his footsteps echo into the cave. Fire sits up and looks at him, and for a moment the world is frozen. 

"...I'm sorry I thought I was you." If he can say nothing else, Fire at least needs to say that. 

Red merely stares at Fire with some indiscernible expression. Somehow, Fire wills himself to carry on. 

"I don't... really know how to explain it, but I always kinda admired your work," _kinda admired,_ as if it wasn't pure obsession, "and I... I think I... I dunno, got lost in it all?"

Red takes half a step forward, tilts his head in worried confusion. 

"I thought I was you, and I don't remember how that happened, but it's not still happening." Pause. "I, um, I'm Fire, by the way. That's my name." Not Red. Fire. His name is Fire. There's no harm in existing like this, in existing here, as not the World Champion but as himself, his stupid little self. 

No, Fire is not Red, and that's fine. That's perfectly fine.

Red nods once in response, but nothing else is said, nothing else happens, and Fire wonders if the world might shatter around him, might strike him dead for hurting someone who he so dearly admires. 

"...um..." Fuck, what else should he say? Is there even anything else _to_ say? "So, yeah. Sorry. I'm not... I'm, um, doing a bit better now. I'm... I understand. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to scare the life outta you, I just - "

Red moved closer at some point, so quietly that Fire didn't even hear or see him move, and Fire has been so caught up looking for words that usually come so naturally to him that he didn't realize Red took his hand in his own until he felt this searing pain. 

Fire looks at his hand and expects to see it bleeding out. It's not red at all, though; his fingers are white and slightly blistered. 

"Uh..." Fire looks between his fingers and Red's expression, one of concern and almost annoyance. "Did I do something wrong again?"

"Still frostbitten." 

"Oh." His voice sounds like a ghost. Wait, still? How long have his hands been like this? Fire winces again when Red squeezes his fingers with just a little too much pressure. 

"...stay here." 

Fire sits up and starts looking around the area, getting a grip on his surroundings, and to his surprise there's actually a decent set-up in here. As to how he has a working light, Fire will never know (it's probably charged by Pikachu, but that's still dubious), and the heat filling the space must be from either the sleeping Charizard or the fire he has going in the back of the cave, just beside a big shelf of rock that seems to lead further into the mountain. It's almost like some of those secret bases trainers make in Hoenn, perfectly built for someone to hide away in. 

_"Zaaard!"_ Red's Charizard roars upon waking up and seeing Fire, and for a moment Fire thinks the dragon is going to burn him alive for what happened last time. Only one of Red's Pokémon was out during that... encounter, not after the battle was cut short, but he's sure Espeon had to have said something to the rest of them by now. She seemed more angry over the whole ordeal than Red did. 

"It's fine," Red insists quietly, urging the dragon to stay put and stay calm. Red wanders over to a pile of various potions and revives, bandages and antiseptic. It's not surprising to see more Pokémon related health items than ones for humans. There's only one person living up here, after all. Still, Fire wonders if Red has had other visitors like this. 

"...so, um..." Fire tries to speak to his idol, this champion, this... ultimately just a human, but Red only continues to rummage through the pile. "What are you looking for?"

"Stuff." That's totally informative. "For the cold. Frostbite."

Oh, right. Fire tries to rub his hands together to warm his fingers, but immediately he hisses at the pain. How did he not notice this while he was outside? His fingers actually feel decent when there's no pressure on them. Are they just that numb? Was _he_ that numb, mentally or otherwise? He's not really a stranger to spells of lost memory, no, but... well, he wasn't doing so well back there, so it's not even that absurd to think he just didn't feel the cold. 

Again, he winces at the pain. He really wants to warm his hands, but -

"Stop that." 

Charizard growls lowly in agreement, but Fire almost jumps because of Red's voice. He's still really not used to the idea of Red speaking. Fire never thought Red was fully mute, chalking that up as one of the many rumors about the champion, but still, it's jarring to hear someone who sounds like a ghost. 

"Why not?"

"It'll hurt you." 

Yeah, but he's freezing over here. "Shouldn't I like... try to warm - "

Red comes back over with a bucket, a towel, and several scarves. He wordlessly wraps one of them around Fire's hands, and it isn't until he's about done that he speaks again. 

"Why did you think you were me?"

Fire literally bites his tongue, a nervous habit of his. "If I knew, I'd tell you. It just... I dunno. I wanted to be your successor, a-and I... guess I kinda lost track of it somewhere along the line." Pause, then more gently and more nervously, "I'm sorry."

Red nods once, acknowledgement, but not really forgiveness yet. Fire can't say he blames him. 

"Wait here." Red leaves with the bucket without saying anything else. 

_"...zaaard."_

Fire looks at Charizard. "What?"

Charizard growls more lowly. He backs up a bit.

"Look, I'm not any more happy than you are, my hands might fall off. That doesn't mean you - "

Charizard flaps his wing twice. The first gust loosens a pokéball from Red's belt on the ground beside him. The second one knocks it out, and a beam of crimson light shoots out and forms itself into a Pokémon.

Espeon. 

The psychic cat shakes her head groggily, and she looks around the cavern with a glow in her eyes, gathering the information around her quickly, as psychic types do. She looks over at Charizard, swishing her tail gracefully through the cool air. 

_"I was hoping he would have been more cooperative. I'm trying to look out for him, after all."_ She... she's not talking, he's sure of it, but her voice is quite clear. It seems like she might be communicating telepathically, but she wouldn't need to do that with Charizard, right? 

_"Char!"_ A burst of a flame comes shooting out of his mouth. Espeon turns to Fire with a stare colder than his hands. 

"Uh... hi."

_"You're the one who tried to steal my trainer's name."_ Espeon struts calmly, darkly over to him. Fire scoots back a bit. 

"S-Sorta."

_"And why might you have done that to him? Why did you have to hurt him?"_ Fuck, her voice could freeze the world faster than any blizzard. 

"I... I don't really know, I was just - " _talking to him about it,_ but he stops short in fear. Espeon braces, gets into position for a battle, and honestly if she was going to attack him, he wouldn't really blame her, but that doesn't mean he's looking forward to it.

_"What did you do with him? Where is he?"_

"W-What? Nothing! He went outside!"

_"Did he?"_

"Yeah..."

_"Why would he go out in this weather?"_ How does she know - well, she's a psychic type, and she's very attuned to the environment. 

"I-I dunno, okay? I'm not a mind-reader like you are!"

_"I just don't think what you're saying makes much sense."_ Psychic energy is building up around her tail. 

"I-I didn't do anything to him!" Espeon readies an attack. "Wait, don't - !"

"Espeon, stop."

Red is back, thank whatever gods there are. Espeon releases the energy around her in a weak wave. 

_"Red, I told you to - "_

"He's hurt."

Espeon eyes Fire cautiously, and he looks just as nervously at her. _"You came without proper protection, didn't you?"_

"I wasn't gonna stay long..."

_"You only need five minutes for frostbite to set in."_ She walks over to Red, staying close to his side. Red sets the bucket (now full of water) next to Charizard's tail. 

"I... yeah." Fire doesn't have a defense for that. 

"It gets cold up here." Red goes back to the pile of medical supplies, grabs a thermometer, and heads back over to Charizard. What is he even doing? This is... strange. Watching Red move is strange. He moves like a ghost, not like he's completely and utterly dead, no, but he's so quiet and his movements are so fluid, it's almost as if he's not a physical thing. Fire wouldn't be too surprised to learn that Red is, in fact, a ghost, but he's pretty sure that's not the case. 

Red carries the bucket of water over to Fire and sets it down. He shifts Fire's wristlets up his arms and puts his hands in the water. It stings a bit, but only a bit, and the warmth is absolutely worth the pins and needles. 

"Don't move." It's not like Fire has anywhere to go anyway. It's a bit of an awkward solution, but Red dips the ends of the towel in the water, then tucks it under Fire's hat to hold the warmth on his ears. Did they get frostbitten too? Seriously, how did he not notice any pain? Fire needs to remember to dress warmly next time he comes up here - or at least come in the summer, when it'll be marginally better than January. This was a bad idea all around. 

At least it seems like Red isn't too mad anymore, or else he probably wouldn't be helping him. 

"...thank you." Fire tries to catch Red's gaze, but Red is back over by Charizard, now with a pan and some assortment of food items. "Even though I kinda, uh, didn't really do much right by you."

"Did you ever deal with Team Rocket?" 

Fire glances over at Espeon when she shuffles. Somehow, she looks a bit... maybe guilty? He's not sure why she would, nor does he know why Red would ask that. "Briefly."

"Where?"

"Just... kinda around Kanto. There's been some small groups of them I had to deal with, but after they got overthrown in Johto, they're mostly gone. They run like Rattata, really. They're such cowards."

Red is quiet for a moment. "Cowards?"

"Yeah. You show 'em up once, and they never wanna deal with you again."

"Ah."

"Why do you ask?"

"...did they ever mention me?"

This is... kinda a weird conversation to be having. "Not that I heard."

"Good." Red pauses tentatively. "We... I thought they sent you here."

_We._ Maybe Espeon was worried about that, or something, so maybe she scared the life outta him, too. That would connect the dots.

"Hell no. They couldn't make me do _anything_ even if they held me at gunpoint from all angles." Pause. "I guess I didn't really make that clear before, but - "

"I thought they were... maybe they wanted to..." Red sighs deeply, and Espeon curls in on herself next to Charizard. "I dunno."

Fire shrugs. "I dunno either. If they're gonna send anyone up here, though, gimme a yell and I'll throw them off, no questions asked."

"I don't think you need to throw them off the mountain..."

"Maybe I don't _need_ to, but I can and I will." Red actually laughs a little at that. 

"Well, I won't stop you."

_"You're very forgiving, Red."_ Espeon hums very quietly. 

"I know."

_"Do be careful."_ Espeon sure isn't very forgiving, though. 

"It's fine. I'm not sending someone with frostbite back out there, anyway."

Espeon looks back at Fire with that piercing gaze, though this apparent guilt takes a bit of the edge off her glare. _"You still caused more than your fair share of trouble, keep in mind. You're on thin ice."_

"Espeon, don't - "

_"You can't keep throwing caution to the wind like this!"_ Espeon cuts Red off, starting an argument that seems like it must be a bit older than Fire knows. _"You can be so careful and so wary, but the moment someone shows you an once of kindness - "_

"That's not it at all, and you know it." Red cuts her off, now. 

_"Then why are you willing to forgive someone who tried to - "_

"Espeon."

Silence. Red walks over to Fire with a pan of stir-fry noodles. That smells amazing.

"You know, Green always told me that my instincts never lead me wrong." At that, Espeon seems to settle down, the waves of energy that have been radiating off her slowly simmering out. 

"...he does say that." Fire murmurs. 

Red's eyes light up. "You know him?"

"We met when I got my Earth Badge, then again when I got cleared to come up here," Fire nods. "We talked a few minutes after that, and he talked about you a bit, said you were his best friend and all."

Red smiles softly. "I'm glad."

Red seems to drift into thought, but the only thing Fire can think about clearly is the food in front of him. 

"I'd try to eat that, but my hands are still in pretty bad shape."

"...I didn't even give you any chopsticks or anything." Red sets the pan on the large hunk of rock in the center of the room. It's almost like a table, actually. Convenient. 

"So... can I actually use my hands now, or...?"

Red comes back with the chopsticks in question. He peeks into the water, looks back at the food, does another double-take, then takes a pile of noodles in the chopsticks himself. "Probably not."

"Oh."

"Here."

"...are you sure you - "

"Please just eat. The last thing we need is you freezing _and_ starving."

"But... are you sure - "

"Please? It's okay, I'm not mad." Pause. "I will be if you don't eat, though."

Despite the odd and somewhat embarrassing gesture, Fire is more than happy that Red is willing to move on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and then they were friends???? yes


End file.
